


Where Loyalties Lie

by esgaroths



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Cranky Rocket, Guardians team being their usual selves, Occasional soft Rocket, Pre-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Swearing, Team as Family, cute groot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-07 09:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11620938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esgaroths/pseuds/esgaroths
Summary: Cora Briar is a human teenage girl that gets by in the Galaxy, selling items she gathers from Earth to the citizens of Xandar. One day she meets Rocket and Groot, they're on a mission to capture Cora's friend; Jasper Starling - who travelled with her to the galaxy. He's wanted for a generous amount of money and Cora can't understand why. She decides to protect him from these rather unusual bounty hunters - but is it the right choice?[This story is my own story that acts as a prequel that eventually weaves into the first and second Guardians of the Galaxy films and becomes a side plot under the film plots.]DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything to do with Guardians of the Galaxy I just own my OCs Cora and Jasper.





	1. The Bounty Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> This is my first GOTG fanfic as I love these films so much! I wanted to have some artistic licence with this so it may be slightly different to usual standards but let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> \- esgaroths

“What is this?” A male Xandarian asked curiously, picking up the foreign item hesitantly.

“If you pick it up you’re buying it.” Cora spoke as she leant forward across her stand, placing her palms of her hands flat on the counter.

“But I have no clue as to what it is.” The baffled Xandarian frowned. “I assume it’s an object from Terra considering you’re Terran.”

“That would be correct.” She nodded and folded her arms. “What you’re holding is what Terran’s call a ‘yo-yo’.”

“A yo-yo?” 

“Yup.”

“What does it do? Is it some sort of explosive device?”

“No!” Cora said with a chuckle. “It’s far from it. Do you have children, Sir?”

“I have a boy.” He nodded with a faint smile.

“Then your boy will love it – it’s a popular toy back at Earth.”

“How much?”

“50 units.”

“What?!” The Xandarian spluttered. “That’s ridiculous! I’ll give you 30.”

“You will give me 40 or I will make it double for touching it without my permission.” Cora insisted, holding his gaze.

He sighed in defeat and proceeded to transfer 40 units over to Cora. She smiled to herself then wished him a good day. When he proceeded to walk away, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. She strolled around her shop, checking to see if she could straighten out any objects that had moved slightly from their set position. The shop had quietened down a bit, but Cora wasn’t worried; she had already achieved her profit goal for the day after the previous customer had bought a record player off her for 1000 units. She then proceeded to tidy her food and drink section, rearranging the bottles of fizzy beverages and snack packets until she heard the shop door slide open. Knowing it would most likely be customers, she turned to greet them but was taken aback when she laid eyes on them.

A raccoon had just casually strolled into the shop, along with a tall creature that Cora had forgotten the name of. She knew it was definitely a creature from the galaxy and not from Earth, although it did resemble a tree. The two were nothing she had seen before during her time in the galaxy but she had more of it to explore.

“Hello.” Cora said warily, unsure of what response she would get back.

“What is this place, a junk sale?” The raccoon spoke, turning his nose at the various objects in the shop.

She paused for a moment, taken aback by his ability to talk and understand her; as well as his comment about her shop.

“Can I help you?” She frowned but kept her tone polite.

“We’re looking for somebody.” The raccoon stated as he eyed a shelf of Barbie dolls with disgust and slight intrigue.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she burst out laughing at the two, causing the woodland creature to narrow his beady eyes at her and for the wooden figure to scratch his head in confusion.

“You cannot be serious.”

“What’s the problem?” The raccoon folded his arms.

“You’re bounty hunters?”

“How can you tell?”

“I’ve had my fair share come in here requesting information and they all seem to begin with something along the lines of “I’m here for somebody’ or “I’m looking for someone.” Cora explained, turning to face the small, furry animal. “I just didn’t expect a raccoon or a... Flora Colossus – yeah that’s the one – to be bounty hunters.”

“Don’t call me a raccoon.” He snarled and stepped closer towards her.

“Gosh, relax a little!” She spoke, raising her hands defensively. “I’m afraid that’s what you are my furry little friend.”

“We ain’t friends, girlie.” The raccoon spat.

Cora rolled her eyes at him and strode to the counter to organise her display items. “Tell me your name then.”

“The name’s Rocket.”

“Your pal over there is rather quiet.” She stated as she nodded over to the tall, wooden figure that pressing the buttons on a TV remote.

“I am Groot.”

“It’s nice that you’re taking an interest in my stuff, Groot.”

“We told you our names, care to return the favour?” Rocket asked as he paced around the room.

“Cora.”

“Cora what?”

“Just Cora.” She stated flatly.

“How long you been in business for?” Rocket questioned as his tree-like partner began examining more objects in the shop with great interest.

“Almost a year.”

“That makes sense, considering I ain’t never seen this little dump before.” He grumbled.

“Hey! If you’ve come in here just to talk crap about my business then you can get out.” Cora warned.

“Fine, I’ll just cut to the chase.” He said, growing agitated.

“Tell me about this person you’re looking for.” She queried, leaning lazily over the counter.

“He’s a Terran, like yourself. We picked up info that tells us he’s living here on Xandar.” 

“Uh huh. A name would be helpful.” 

“Does Jasper Starling ring a bell?” 

“Nope.” Cora shot back, almost too quickly.

“You sure about that?” Rocket pressed.

“Doesn’t ring a bell.” She replied, putting her chin in her hand and shaking her head.

“He’s got a big reward on him but I can’t find any fricking info on him. Groot and I will hit jackpot if we get this one.” Rocket grumbled to himself.

“Well… sorry I can’t help you boys.” She sighed.

Rocket narrowed his eyes at Cora, knowing something was off about her. He knew she knew something, he just had to go about it in a different manner. He then turned to Groot, who had picked up the TV remote again examining it with great detail and gestured for him to follow.

“Come on Groot, let’s get out of here.”

“I am Groot.” He protested.

“It’s just a fricking piece of Terran garbage, leave it.” Rocket instructed.

“I am Groot?”

“No, I am not buying it for you! Quit your whining and come with me.”

“I am Groot.”

Rocket rubbed his head and sighed in annoyance. He stared at Groot, who stared at him innocently as he clutched the TV remote to his wooden chest. After a brief moment of silence, Rocket turned back to Cora.

“How much will you take for it?”

“15 units.”

“I guess it could be worse.” Rocket muttered as he transferred over the units.

“Pleasure doing business with you two.” Cora said with a cheeky smile.

Rocket snorted at her comment as he strode out of the shop whilst Groot followed slowly with the TV remote in his hand, adding a slow wave at Cora before walking after his furry companion.


	2. Jasper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> Wow I actually can't believe this got 4 kudos already! I know its probably not much to some people but it's a lot for me since I hardly ever get kudos or anything so thank you so much! I'm going to post the 3rd chapter straight after this so I'm spoiling you today haha so I hope you enjoy and do give me some feedback if you have any!
> 
> \- esgaroths

Cora had secured her shop after finishing work for the day. She proceeded to walk through the bustling streets of Xandar, knowing exactly where she wanted to go and what she was going to do. She was heading to the bar; although there were a variety of bars she could have chosen, Cora was headed one in particular and the reason was not for a drink. She didn’t want to drink at that moment in time. She strode towards the bar door after a fair amount of weaving through crowds and was about to push the door open when a Xandarian exiting the premises beat her to it, so she stepped to the side to allow him to stumble past. 

Immediately stepping into the bar, various different alcohol smells wafted into her nose to make one rather foul scent. She braced herself for the scent to linger and entered. She had heard that Xandar bars were not the worst in the galaxy to her surprise and in comparison, were much nicer and sophisticated. She wondered whether she wanted to find out just how bad bars in other parts of the galaxy could possibly be, knowing she would dread to find out what sort of things occurred but on the other hand, her curiosity was piqued. 

She shook her head after observing the bar’s atmosphere, scolding herself mentally for letting her thoughts distract her from her task. She made her way straight to the counter to see who she expected to be there and released a sigh of relief.

“That’s two for you, Sir.” A tall, Terran teenage boy said over the hum of conversation as he handed two multi-coloured drinks over to a Krylorian couple sat together by the counter.

He walked over towards Cora’s side of the bar, running a hand through his short, light blonde hair as he almost past her, then walked backwards slightly after recognising her.

“Cora! Here for a drink?”

“Not today, Jasper.” She shook her head. “When is your break?”

“Not for another half hour.” Jasper replied as he picked up a glass and dried it with a cloth. “Why?”

“I need to speak with you.” Cora said in a low voice.

“About what?”

She pursed her lips and stared at him intently, hoping he would pick up on the fact that she did not wish to speak with him out in the open. Jasper stopped cleaning the glass and placed it on a shelf behind him before turning to face Cora again. 

“I’ll ask the boss if I can take my break now.” He stated as he slipped into the back room momentarily.

She drummed her fingers on the wooden, sticky table and tried blocking out all the commotion around her. She pondered on how Jasper was going to react to her warning; whether he would believe her. What was he going to do? She didn’t think there was much she could do for him and began to debate if it was worth telling him, but quickly reassured herself that she had to do it. He had done her many favours and thought it would only be fair to help him out.

“Come with me.” Jasper spoke as he unlocked the short wooden gate to get through to the other side of the bar.

Cora obeyed and followed him through the store room that had a security camera on the ceiling and crates of stock piled high, making it slightly difficult to pass through. He opened another door revealing a quiet, narrow street. Jasper leaned back against the building and folded his arms.

“This better be important.”

“Of course, it’s important.” She frowned. “Jasper, there’s something you should know.”

“Is this what I think it is Cora?” He said with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

“Shut up.” She shot back trying not to smile. “Stop messing around.”

“Okay okay, what did you want to tell me?” He questioned, his face growing solemn.

“Jasper… do you know of anyone who would be looking for you?”

“No, why?” He asked, raising his eyebrows in shock.

“Are you sure?” 

“The only people I know in Xandar are you and a few regulars at the bar that are normal Xandarian and Krylorian citizens.” 

“So, you wouldn’t be able to tell me why two bounty hunters are after you?”

Jasper tightened his jaw and his eyes widened slightly. He simply shook his head in response, baffled by the news.

“How do you know about this?” 

“They walked into the shop today and asked about you.” Cora explained. “I think they were questioning a lot of people.”

“How much is the bounty?”

“They didn’t say – only that it seemed like it was a big bounty to them.”

“Am I wanted dead or alive?” He asked gravely.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know who set up the bounty?”  
“I don’t know.” Cora repeated.

Jasper sighed and began pacing around the dimly-lit street that was deserted, apart from the likes of himself and Cora. He rubbed the back of his neck as he became occupied with his thoughts.

“Well, I don’t know what else to say other than: shit.” He said with a nervous laugh.

“Yup, you’ve got that right.” She replied slowly.

“What do you think I should do?”

“I honestly have no idea.”

“I need to get out of Xandar…” Jasper spoke thoughtfully.

“No!” Cora suddenly cried in an outburst. “That’s the worst possible thing you can do right now. You need to act like you never knew about this. If you attempt to hide or run away it will only attract attention to you.”

“But what do I do when I am found?”

“Then that’s when you run and hide – I’ll come with you, but where could we hide out of all the places in the galaxy?”

“I think you know exactly where to hide.” Jasper said with a small, triumphant grin.

“Do I?” Cora replied, beginning to frown with confusion.

“Isn’t it obvious, Cora? Earth! We can go back to Earth and hide there. There’s no way they would be willing to go there.”

“That’s not such a bad idea.” She said smiling after her realisation. “I do need to restock on supplies for the shop.”

“Then it’s settled. Was that why you came here to speak to me?”

“Of course it is, dumbass.” Cora laughed.

“What I meant was; did you have anything else you wanted to tell me?” 

“No, that was it. Now, get back to making drinks.”

“I still have time to kill until I have to come back.”

“Then in that case, you can make me a drink.” Cora winked.

“Terran or Xandarian?” Jasper asked as he beckoned her inside back to the store room.

“Let’s go for Terran.”

She followed him across the store room as he led her to a locker and put his thumb on the scanner, causing it to click and open, revealing a half empty bottle of vodka, a full bottle of whiskey and liqueur with two empty glasses. 

“You choose this time.” Jasper offered.

“Open up the liqueur.” 

He took the glasses and the bottle out of the locker and knocked it shut. He perched them on a crate storing Xandarian alcohol and began to pour out a drop of the drink into each glass before screwing the cap back on and handing a glass to Cora and picking the other one up. He gestured with the glass for a cheers and she obliged, their glasses clinking before they gulped down their portions of the drink.

“That was a good choice.” Jasper spoke after licking his lips.

“I was beginning to miss the taste of alcohol back home.” She said, beginning to reminisce.

“We should open that Scottish whiskey soon though. No one does whiskey quite like us.” He said proudly.

“When we head back to Earth we should grab some gin – London gin obviously.”

“I must admit, you Brits make the finest gin.” He agreed, smiling at her before getting onto his feet and putting away the glasses and the bottle. “Looks like I need to head back now.”

“Alright then.” Cora replied, getting up with him. “Be careful out there.”

“The only trouble I usually get myself in are bar fights and I want to keep it that way.” Jasper smiled.

The both proceeded to enter the bar and Jasper swiftly unlocked the gate to allow Cora to exit the bar. She turned to him and bid him goodbye briefly before setting out back into the nightlife of Xandar.


	3. Sell-out

The next day was business as usual for Cora and her shop. The day seemed to have dragged as she had only sold a rubber duck and a large roll of bubble wrap. She accepted that it had been a slow day and began tidying her shelves and counting her stock. Once she had finished that, she glanced at her Terran clock on the wall and noticed it was only two hours until closing. She then sat slumped over her counter and rested her head on her folded arms.  
As she sat there, Cora had Jasper on her mind, wondering if he got through the rest of his shift without any trouble, hoping that no one approached him to question him or take him away. She knew she was going to visit the bar anyway later on that evening to see if he made it to his shift; she wanted him to sleep peacefully before he had to wake up for work. 

The sound of the shop door opening jolted Cora from her thoughts and looked up to see who it was and immediately braced herself for what was to come. She rolled her eyes and straightened her back. She looked up at Groot and then looked down at Rocket who stormed towards her.

“Let me guess, you want a refund on that TV remote?” Cora joked.

“Shut up, humie.” Rocket yelled. “We want answers.”

“Why are you so worked up about a TV remote?” She said mockingly.

“Enough about the frickin’ TV remote!” He snarled as he climbed onto the counter and pointed in her face. “You lied to us yesterday!”

“Okay okay.” She said, slipping off her chair and walking to the other side of the counter. “I may have bumped the price of the remote from 10 units to 15.”

“Oh come on! You conned me too?”

“That’s the only thing I did yesterday – I have to make a living up here somehow.”

“I am Groot.”

“Yes, I get it Groot; you like that thing.” Rocket said waving a hand at him to signal that now was not the time and jumped from the counter. “But you, girlie; you didn’t just lie about that but you lied about another thing!”

“And what would that be?”

“You know where the Terran boy is. You knew all along.”

“What Terran boy?” Cora lied.

“You wanna play clueless with me? You can try it but I have proof.”

“Go on then.” Cora challenged. “Show me your proof.”

Rocket smirked then raised his wrist and tapped on the buttons on the contraption he wore on it. A hologram appeared and hovered over it, showing footage of Cora and Jasper from the night before at the bar drinking their liqueur and talking. Her eyes widened and backed away, unsure of what to do now she had been found out. At the same time, she found it slightly funny how she became suddenly became afraid of a woodland creature and a tree.  
“How did you find that?” She said in a furious tone.

“I have a way with electronics and hacking into security systems.” 

“But you’re a fricking raccoon!”

“Call me that again I dare you! Surely your tiny human brain must know that I ain’t nothing ordinary.”

“Yeah I get it, you don’t have to tell me twice.” Cora rolled her eyes.

“Now I’m gonna ask you again.” He said threateningly as he switched off the hologram. “Tell me where he is, humie!”

“Did you ever think to check the bar if that’s where you got that recording from?” She said stubbornly.

“Do you really think Groot and I are morons?” Rocket shot back, becoming more aggressive. “Of course we fricking checked the bar. He ain’t there! That’s why we’re asking you about where else he could be.”

“You sure do have a lot of anger for a little raccoon.” She taunted.

“Oh that’s it!” Rocket growled as he took a large gun from off his back and loaded it. “You’re gonna regret messing with me, girlie!”

“I am Groot.” Groot agreed.

Cora didn’t think such a small creature would be able to operate a weapon so big, but she didn’t want to entertain the idea at that moment in time. She felt for her blaster in her back trouser pocket to realise that she had left it behind in her stock room. She heard the large gun whir as it was preparing to fire and dove behind one of the shelves to hear glass shattering behind her. Rocket had missed his shot and made a hole in the counter. 

She crawled across the floor and looked at the shelves to find an item of use to defend herself. She could see packets of balloons, pocket fans, grow-in-water toys – nothing that could be of use. Cora continued to crawl frantically down the aisle, planning to make a run for it through the store room.

“I’m not gonna wait around for an answer from you!” Rocket yelled as he stood at the end of the aisle with the gun loaded in his arms. “Tell me where he is and I might change my mind about blowing you up into pieces!”

“Who are you working for? Why does he have a bounty on him?” Cora shouted as she briefly turned her head to address him then continued to search for something to defend herself. 

“Save it – I’ve had enough of your annoying questions!” He said as he aimed at her.

She began to panic inside and her eyes darted up and down the shelves and side to side in search for anything she could use until she noticed something eye-level in front of her. She was knelt in front of her water gun shelf. She shrugged, knowing it was better than nothing and took the large gun down to notice that thankfully, she had remembered to fill them with water. Cora then put the strap over her shoulder so the water gun comfortably rested on her stomach over the fabric of her shirt and swiped two small water pistols off the shelf, putting them in her front trouser pockets.

Cora then rose to her feet and hid behind the end of the shelf. She began pumping the water in the water gun, getting ready to fire as Rocket squinted, trying to get a good aim on her.

“I’m gonna count to three: One –“

She then stepped out from the side of the shelf, exposing her top half and squirted the water and drenched a very confused Rocket.

“Agh!” He spluttered as he lowered his gun. “What the hell is that thing?! Groot help me out here!”

Cora continued firing blasts of water at the raccoon as he attempted to shield himself from it with his arms. Groot slowly strolled towards Rocket and stood in front of him protectively. Rocket then armed himself with his gun once again and scurried up Groot’s arm, perching on his shoulder as he reloaded. 

“Go after her, Groot!”

The flora colossus began to step towards her, causing Cora to switch her target from Rocket to him. After rapidly pumping some more water, she fired at Groot and he stopped in his tracks as he let out a low grumble while shaking his head to dry off. As he became covered in water, he realised what the substance was and smiled. He then opened his mouth and tried to catch the water in his mouth to drink it.

“Groot! What the hell, man?!” Rocket shouted. “Stop drinking that – you don’t know if that stuff is toxic!”

“I am Groot.” He gargled as he continued to gulp down the water that was being fired by Cora.

“What? It’s only water?” Rocket asked in surprised tone and then turned to Cora. “You’re really fighting us with fricking water?!”

“Well it worked didn’t it?” Cora grinned and then slipped into the door to the stock room and locked it. 

She heard Rocket cursing and yelling from the other side and rapid footsteps approaching the door. She swiftly pressed the panic button on her wall which would cause the shop to lock down. It was usually used for cases of attempted robbery but she knew locking them in the shop would buy her time to escape. As she heard more yelling from the other side of the door; she scanned the store room to find anything of use.

Cora noticed her blaster lying on her desk but wanted to quickly search for a backpack to store some items inside it. She ran to the section where she stored them, opening a box to see the only one left was a children’s backpack that was shaped like a purple tortoise shell, with soft, plastic lilac spikes attached to it. Nevertheless, she took it and zipped it open running to fetch her blaster and popped it inside. Remembering her plasma sphere, she opened the draw in her desk and took it out to stuff it inside her backpack. 

She was about to run out the back door when she decided she wanted to bring some food and drink just in case. The banging from the other side of the door indicated that she didn’t have much time left to gather items. She went to the section where she kept stock of Terran food and drink and threw bottles of water and cola inside and grabbed packs of Jaffa Cakes, Oreos and peanuts to stash inside her full back pack. When she was satisfied, she zipped the backpack up and heaved it onto her shoulders, ran to the back door and exited outside the back of the back of the building. 

In the corner of her eye, Cora spied empty crates and rushed to shut the door, lock it behind her and stack the crates in front of it. When she was done, she wiped her hands against each other then proceeded to sprint into the streets of Xandar, knowing it was time to execute her plan with Jasper earlier than they were expecting.

Meanwhile, Rocket gave the door one last punch before giving a sigh of defeat.

“I should have done this in the first place.” He grumbled, shaking his head before loading his gun.

He pulled the trigger and made a round hole inside the door and stepped through, unlocking the door for Groot to allow him access. Groot crouched and stepped inside the stock room and stood tall whilst surveying it.

“I am Groot.”

“Way to state the obvious, Groot.” Rocket shouted as he tossed his gun onto the ground in frustration. “She escaped that’s why she’s not here.”

“I am Groot.”

“Look, I’m not mad at you.” He softened his tone slightly. “I’m pissed at that Cora girl. She's locked us in this dump and fricking beat us… WITH WATER!” He added beginning to lose his temper.

“I am Groot.”

“This is bullshit!” Rocket exclaimed as he paced around until he stopped, then dialled on the buttons on the device he wore on his wrist. 

“She doesn’t know that I also captured the audio files with the security footage from the camera.” He spoke slyly. “She doesn’t know that we know she’s headed for Terra.”

“I am Groot.”

“Exactly my friend, we’re gonna catch up to her before she can even get there herself.”


	4. Snake in the Plain

Pushing and shoving through the bustle of Xandar, Cora panted as she continued to sprint through towards Jasper’s neighbourhood. She knew her backpack and her frantic running were receiving puzzled looks from the Xandarians but she refused to let that distract her and she pressed on. She slowed as she approached an estate of high-rise apartments and followed the street that entered the estate, turning at the second left and becoming face to face with an apartment building. Cora approached a control panel that had a button for each apartment and pressed the one for Jasper’s, activating a built-in camera on the control panel shortly after.

“Cora?” Jasper’s voice spoke through the control panel.

“Let me in, Jasper.”

“Of course it’d be you.”

His voice then cut off and the doors to the lobby of the apartment building slid open. She strode inside and punched in the level for Jasper’s apartment once she boarded the cylinder-shaped glass elevator and felt herself being transported upwards at a high speed. As she neared the level, she noticed Jasper waiting outside for her by his front door. Once she exited the elevator, Jasper rushed towards her.

“What’s happened?”

“I hope you don’t have any plans - we’re going to have to start our trip early.” Cora explained with dread.

“Did they visit you again?”

“Why else would I be here? They know that we saw each other last night.”

“So, they know I work at the bar.” Jasper concluded with a grave expression on his face.

“I put the shop on lock down so they’re locked in for now. It should buy us some time to escape – you still have that ship, right?”  
“Yeah, we’ll need to collect it though. I put it away in the garage.” Jasper said as he turned to his apartment door to gather some belongings.

“Jasper, we don’t have time. We need to go now!” She said with urgency to her voice.

“Alright alright, let me just grab my blaster and we’ll go- jesus!” He shouted as he disappeared into his apartment and shortly came back with his blaster.

“I have supplies so you don’t need to worry about that.” She said as she gestured for him to follow her into the elevator

“That explains the very stylish backpack you’re sporting.” Jasper joked.

“Come on you, get in.” She laughed.

Jasper eventually obeyed and pressed a button, causing the elevator to shut its doors and descend at an alarming but smooth speed to the ground floor. Once the doors parted, they both strode out of the apartment building and proceeded walking across the street on route to the garage. Cora was tempted to run but she knew this would cause a stir and decided to follow Jasper’s calm approach.

“What kind of supplies have you got in there?” He asked curiously as they walked side by side through the busy streets.

“Food, drink, a plasma sphere, weapons… just the basics.”

“Fair enough.” Jasper nodded and fell silent momentarily, appearing deep in thought before he asked another question. “You said you put the shop on lockdown – I take it things got messy?”

“Dealing with bounty hunters, it always is. I wasn’t surprised in all honesty; I saw it coming.”

“Just how bad did it get?”

“Weapon’s got involved.”

“Jesus.”

“So, I put the shop on lockdown and came to get you.” Cora explained. “They do have decent heads on their shoulders so I bet by now they would have gotten themselves out.”

“How did they know we were together last night? He asked, turning his head to her as he walked on.

“One of them ‘has a way with electronic systems’ – those were his words not mine. He pulled up a hologram of footage from the security camera in the bar.”

“We should have been more careful.” Jasper lamented.

“We weren’t to know.”

They had finally reached the garage and Jasper was the first to enter along with Cora following behind him. She decided to stand by the door to keep watch in case unwanted visitors such as Rocket and Groot or possible accomplices or theirs. She would occasionally glance at Jasper to see how much progress he had made with his conversation with a worker at the garage. Eventually, Jasper called her over and she followed him towards a hangar bay where his ship was parked and ready to board. 

The ship was rather wide but fairly small in size. It had two triangular shaped wings on each side. The top level of wings were shorter than the wings beneath them and had built in guns and turrets. The bottom level of wings had motors and boosters inside them to power the ship. The ship itself was silver with one green stripe running lengthways down the centre. On the west side of the ship, the doors to enter it were in front of the wings. It was the only ship Cora had piloted and controlled and was therefore, only familiar with its particular controls. She wasn’t sure how good the ship was in comparison to Xandarian ships and other ships in the galaxy but Jasper had described it as an ‘all-round’ ship.

“Right, let’s board this beauty.” He said, rubbing his hands together.

“Have you thought of a name for it yet?” She asked as she boarded the ship, climbing the stairs to the controls as the door shut behind her.

“I’m going with the Winged Cobra.” He replied, taking a seat in front of the controls and flicking various switches to bring it to life.

“Why the Winged Cobra?”

“I don’t know, the green stripe reminds me of a snake.” Jasper shrugged.

Cora took the bag off her shoulders and placed it next to the chair next to his before sitting in it and began entering the coordinates for Earth into the ship’s system. She then buckled up her seatbelt and grabbed onto edges of the chair.

“I’m ready when you are.” She nodded.

Jasper fastened his seatbelt, grabbed hold of the steering wheel and lunged it forward, causing the Winged Cobra to jolt onwards as it gained momentum across the take-off strip. Once the ship was outside, it sped up and when it reached the appropriate speed, Jasper pulled a lever and the ship zoomed into the air and out of Xandar’s atmosphere. Soon enough, they were surrounded by the galaxy’s stars and rocks and Cora couldn’t help but stare at the windscreen in awe. Eventually, Jasper got the Winged Cobra stable and on course and programmed it onto auto-pilot. 

“Everything is reading normal.” She stated. “Fuel is good, the oxygen is stable and we are on course.”

“Good, now we can relax until we get to Earth.” Jasper replied as he undid his seatbelt and sat back in his seat. “In the meantime, I need something to eat.”

“Take the bag.” Cora replied, lazily kicking the bag over to him.

He nodded in thanks and picked up the bag, resting it on his lap. He unzipped it and peered inside then glanced up at Cora, shaking his head with a smile.

“Jaffa Cakes; really?” 

“Don’t be so ungrateful!” She chuckled. “Eat the Oreos then.”

“It’s just so typical of you.” He laughed and opened a packet of Oreos, popping one in his mouth.

The pair sat together, chatting away whilst eating and drinking to keep their energy levels up. They knew they had a long journey ahead of them and they only had each other and the stars for company. They continued to chat for hours until they dozed off to the sound of the ship’s engine humming as it sped across the galaxy.

***********

A few hours later, Cora jumped as she was startled from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and looked down at the empty orange Jaffa Cake wrappers on her lap. She narrowed her eyes at the windscreen, thinking that the Winged Cobra could have possibly bumped into a floating piece of rock but could not see any damage to the windscreen. She was convinced she felt the ship jolt suddenly.

She turned to Jasper to see him still fast asleep on the chair. Cora scarped her hair back and proceeded to enter codes into the controls to check on the status of the ship. The screen in front of her on the control panel showed her there was minor damage to the east side of the ship, possibly caused by gun fire from another ship. Before she could activate the Winged Cobra’s ship detector, the ship jolted again and rumbled from the impact. Cora fell out of her chair into a heap on the steel floor and clambered on her feet to see Jasper wide awake and concerned.

“What hit us?”

“Possibly another ship.” Cora explained. “I’m going to activate the ship detector.”

“I don’t think you need to.” Jasper spoke meekly as he pointed to the windscreen.

Cora looked back at the windscreen to see herself face to face with another ship. It was slightly smaller and slimmer than the Winged Cobra and only had one pair of wings. It was all grey and had more advanced weapons attached to it. She shook her head in disbelief, knowing who it could possibly be and wondered how they were able to catch up so soon. The Winged Cobra then began to make beeping noises and Jasper looked down at the screen on his control panel.

“They want us to turn our communicator on.”

“Do it. I think I know who it is.” Cora sighed as she felt her anger bubble up inside her.

“I’ll leave the talking to you.” Jasper nodded and pressed various sets of buttons to activate it.

This caused the beeping to cease and a familiar voice to boom across the speakers inside the ship.

“Listen up girlie, did you really think that little stunt you pulled at your junkyard was cute?” Rocket’s voice yelled with no introduction.

“How the hell did you find us?” She shouted in anger.

“I managed to grab the audio from the footage I found.” Rocket announced proudly. “It told me just what I needed to hear.”

“You just won’t quit will you?”

“That boy has quite the bounty on him. I can’t let an opportunity like that pass by. Care to hand him over?”

“Why so sure that he’s with me?” She asked as she turned to Jasper, who watched her with a solemn expression.

“Cut the crap, my ship is picking up not just one but two signs of life in your piece of flying trash.” He said confidently.

A faint “I am Groot” was then picked up on the transmission which seemed to confuse Jasper as he frowned.

“Just because their ship has some colour on it doesn’t mean it’s better than ours.” Rocket argued. “Anyways, hand him over girlie and I’ll think about leaving you and your Terran junk alone.”

“Why don’t you discuss this with me since I’m the one this mostly affects.” Jasper retorted.

“Jasper no –“ 

“I’ll discuss it with you once you board my ship, Starling.” Rocket said slyly.

“I’m not letting you get me that easily.” He shot back.

“No no no Groot don’t touch that! Ugh, I’m growing bored of this conversation.” Rocket groaned and then hung up.

The ship was silent and Jasper turned to face Cora who shook her head angrily at Rocket’s ship in front of them.

“Why did he hang up?” Jasper thought aloud.

Rocket began to fire multiple shots at the ship, causing it to wobble side to side and the emergency sirens to wail frantically. It was evident to both Jasper and Cora that Rocket meant business and was willing to bring them down if they weren’t going to come quietly.


	5. Back at square one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> I just wanted to thank you all for all the kudos and reviews this has gotten so far. I didn't think this would get one kudos let alone 5 so I'm very grateful thank you thank you! Secondly, I just wanted to tell you guys that while I do proof read each chapter before I post it but sometimes I'm rather tired and I miss silly mistakes like spelling and grammar mistakes. I am aware that they are there but I feel like it will be much easier to correct them all once the fanfic is fully uploaded rather correcting it one by one after uploading each chapter. I hope that makes sense! I love you guys loads thank you for being awesome! Enjoy the chapter!
> 
> \- esgaroths

“Shit!” Cora exclaimed as she frantically pushed buttons on the control panel.

“I’ll steer, you fire.” Jasper commanded as he sat in his chair without doing the seatbelt and latched onto the steering wheel.

The Winged Cobra turned around and began to lurch forward at a high speed. Jasper had no idea where to retreat to and decided to focus more on dodging the incoming fire from Rocket’s ship. Cora grabbed onto the controls to the weapons, that were shaped similarly to a joystick; and squinted at the screen in front of her that gave her a point-of-view shot from the guns. This made her able to see Rocket’s ship from the front and she aimed for the windscreen. When she was ready she fired, sending a beam of light to Rocket’s way, which he dodged swiftly.

“Can you switch off those bloody sirens?!” Cora bellowed over the noise.

“I don’t know if you noticed but I’m steering our asses away from the incoming fire!” Jasper shot back.

She heaved a sigh and began to disable the emergency sirens. Her ears rang despite the silence that had replaced the wailing. Her fingers rapidly typed into the control panel and she brought up a ship status report on her screen.

“The East side still has minor damage despite taking more hits.” She stated. 

“Keep firing at the ship.” He said, focused on steering.

She switched her screen to the camera and once again took aim at the windscreen. After frowning at her target, she proceeded to fire. Once again, she missed the windscreen but her shot hit one of the guns on one side of the wings. Cora cheered and did a small fist bump in quick celebration.

“Nice shot!” He complemented. “Now, shoot some rapid fire at their weapons so we can disable them.”

“We need a better plan, Jasper. It’s one thing destroying their weapons but we actually need to get away from the ship.”

“Well Cora, why don’t you come up with something else?!”

“Okay okay; I’ll open fire!”

With a tight grip on the ship’s gun controls, Cora began to rapidly press the button to fire. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, watching each shot to see all of them miss or be dodged by Rocket’s ship. As each shot failed to hit its target, she grew annoyed and began to fire faster. To her dismay, shot after shot was continuously dodged by the raccoon controlling his ship until she ceased fire and slammed her fist on the desk of controls, letting out a frustrated grunt.

“This is bullshit!”

“Right okay, we’ll switch.” Jasper spoke, leaning in front of Cora and taking over.

She then slid into Jasper’s chair and grabbed the steering wheel, staring out ahead at the stars in front of her. She would occasionally make sharp movements to the left or right to avoid being hit. She preferred this much better and began to wonder why she was left to control the gunfire in the first place. Jasper smoothly fired shots, occasionally hitting the sides of Rocket’s ship. Cora narrowly missed a rock as she turned the ship on its side briefly to zoom past it. The ship wobbled slightly off course after being hit from behind as Cora cursed under her breath.

“Careful!” Jasper warned.

She shook her head then widened her eyes as an idea suddenly popped into her head.

“Jasper, can this thing make a jump?”

“Of course it can; why?”

“I feel like a space jump back to Xandar is our only option right now.”

“How many jumps is it back to Xandar?” He questioned as he fired another round of shots at Rocket’s ship.

She rapidly typed in this query into the control panel, causing the screen to display a small hologram of the planet with its information on the screen.

“Only two.”

“We’ll destroy the ship’s engine before we jump so we can have a head-start.” Jasper stated.

“Got it.” Cora replied as she made a scan on Rocket’s ship for their engine. “It’s in the rear end of the ship towards the centre. The west side of the ship is weaker – aim there and we’ll do some damage.”

“Get behind the ship then give me your word.” 

She nodded and began to drive the Winged Cobra at full throttle, beginning to feel the G-Force pin her to the seat. When she decided that the time was right, she pulled the ship into a sharp reverse; positioning the ship next to Rocket’s before he could realise what their intentions were.

“Fire, Jasper!”

He immediately released a rapid string of shots at the ship, causing a thin stream of smoke to leak from it. She grinned at his work then buckled herself up as she pushed the Winged Cobra back to full speed to overtake Rocket.

“Strap yourself in!” She commanded and proceeded to set up the jump to Xandar.

Jasper sat down in the seat and fastened his seatbelt then gripped the sides of the chair. 

“Make it quick, Cora.” He grimaced.

She leaned back in the pilot’s chair and pushed the button, propelling the Winged Cobra across the galaxy as the stars and planets became an indecipherable blur. She closed her eyes so tightly, tears began to seep from the corners and slide down her cheek. She begged for the jump to be over as she felt herself becoming more nauseous by the second. Eventually the ship slowed and she opened her eyes, rubbing them dry and let out a sigh of relief to see that the ship was facing the planet of Xandar.

“And we’re back.” She breathed.

“Jesus, you look more pale than usual, Cora. You’re right when you say jumping doesn’t agree with you.” Jasper said concernedly as he turned to face her.

“I’ll be fine once we land this thing.” She panted and proceeded to guide the Winged Cobra towards Xandar’s atmosphere.

He groaned as he rubbed his head, his head pounding after the jump. He watched as the ship began to descend onto Xandar, looking upon the city from an aerial view.

“Shall we land at the garage?”

“Not now, the bounty hunters will know where to find us” Jasper shook his head. Land in that forest just outside the city. We’ll activate the ship’s invisibility and walk back to the city.”

She simply nodded in response and navigated the ship towards the forest then entered commands into the control panel for the landing procedure. The Winged Cobra gently lowered to the ground and ceased to a halt in the middle of the forest. Cora then shut down the controls and the ship, unbuckling her seatbelt afterwards. She rested her head against the back of her seat and let out a big breath. Jasper turned towards her and smiled thankfully.

“Good job.”

“I need some fresh air.” She replied weakly, slowly rising and walking to the exit, taking her unusual backpack of supplies with her.

Jasper followed her out of the Winged Cobra and found her sat on a rock taking deep breaths. He gave her a small smile as he joined her.

“Space jumps never agree with you, don’t they?”

“Nope.” She grumbled.

“Well er, cheers for getting us out that mess.” He replied awkwardly.

“Thanks for taking the weapon controls from me.” She spoke with a half-hearted chuckle.

“Whenever you’re ready, I’ll put on the invisibility for the Winged Cobra and we’ll make our way back.”

“Do you know what you’re going to do when we get back?” Cora asked as she stared out at the forest.

“What do you mean?”

“They know where you work now, they know where I work. They know exactly where to look so it won’t be long before they show up and we need to be ready.”

Jasper paused and furrowed his eyebrows as he had a thought. Cora was right; these bounty hunters knew where to look and he knew because of his alleged big bounty he had over him they would refuse to stop searching. 

“Well, we can still stick with our voyage back to Earth.” He suggested.

“But what about now?”

“We don’t need to do anything. Just keep doing what we usually do. I know it won’t stop them finding us; but think about it, Cora. It will prevent them from acting upon it. We work in very public areas, there is no way they can capture either of us without the Nova Corps getting involved.”

“You’re right, I never thought of that.” Cora agreed. “As long as we stay in public areas and avoid being alone for too long we should be good. Then we can use the time to properly plan our escape to Earth.”

“Exactly; now are you good to go?”

“I think so.” Cora nodded and stood to her feet.

Jasper then opened up a panel on the east side of the Winged Cobra and began to enter various codes and commands until the ship slowly began to blend in with the environment and became invisible. Cora picked up a faint sound from above and looked up at the sky to see a ship growing from a speck as it lowered to the ground.

“Jasper, it’s them - we need to hide!”

He ran back towards her as she ran into the bushes and crouched behind them. He lowered to her level and watched with her. The ship had landed just in front of the invisible Winged Cobra and ceased to a stop. The ship door opened and revealed Rocket stepping out and cursing angrily.

“I swear they landed here, Groot. Where the hell did they go?”

“I am Groot.” Groot spoke as he sprouted back to his normal height after crouching to exit their ship.

“That’s ridiculous!” Rocket shot back and shook his head at him.

“I am Groot.”

“They’re here somewhere and I know it! Those puny Terrans can’t fool me for long.” He snarled.

“What the hell…” Jasper whispered in disbelief as he watched the pair.

“What?” Cora whispered back.

“I’m being hunted by a bloody raccoon and a living tree?”

“Shush.”

“Are you serious right now?!” He hissed.

“Shut up – come on!” Cora hissed back as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away and made their way back to the city.

“Hey Groot, be quiet for one sec will ya?” Rocket said suddenly has his ears twitched.

Groot stared at him blankly for as Rocket walked in a circle in silence and then stopped.

“Huh, I thought I heard something.” He muttered.

“I am Groot.” 

“No, it wasn’t my footsteps! Anyways, we need to change our approach towards Cora and the Starling boy.”

“I am Groot.”

“We don’t play nice, Groot. That’s not how it works.” Rocket tapped his foot as he put his hands on his hips then clicked his fingers. “I got it, I know exactly what we need to do.”

Rocket proceeded to stride back into his ship and then turned back to Groot

“You coming with me, buddy?”


End file.
